Andhra Pradesh plans to establish 1,030 mobile towers in Paderu division of Alluri Sitarama Raju district to improve mobile connectivity. The initiative was initiated by Gulzar Natarajan, additional secretary of the central telecommunications department, who inaugurated a cell tower in Mandiputtu, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) habitation. He also instructed officials to speed up work to ensure good network availability in around 3,574 villages across 244 panchayats under the Paderu revenue division.
The tribal belt has seen a 50 per cent increase in mobile connectivity since the past few years. Almost all the mandals in the Visakha tribal area saw at least one cell tower in the last decade, but the services were limited due to its limited capacity.
All these mobile towers come under the ‘Mission Connect’ scheme which aims to provide mobile connectivity to almost all villages. In addition, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) stated that a communication network is essential for the implementation of various schemes, including welfare.
